Choices and favorite tool and a little progress

Just a quick post today as we'll be gone most of the day.... (celebrating DH's birthday)  I had many many cording choices  for the fronds. I chose the 3 cordings on the right... one matte, one satin, and one shiny metallic.  I have  applied a little E6000 glue to the last 1" of each and worked it in... When dry that will make it MUCH easier to work with and I cut off the glued part when finished.  Later I'll show various tips on dealing with endings.  In fact eventually I'll probably do a tutorial on using cordings as I have come to really love them...

I chose the fabrics for the perfume bottle... a gold taffeta, 2 different glittery gold tulles and a gold netting.  Although it does not show in the photo, when stacked a moire pattern starts to appear because of the different textures. It's a lovely translucent effect and shifts as you move the block...  Notice the one tulle has a exquisite salvage edge which should be fantastic for flowers.

I just completed the chain stitches around the stack of fabrics and now I can trim the layers of fabric right up to the edge of the chain stitches and couch two rows of cording around it.  There are no edges to turn under or worry about. Cording has opened up a whole new world of clever concealment that will forever be useful for me.


Next to my needle and my scissors, my favorite tool is this tiny 3 1/2" hemostat.  It has been phenomenal for maneuvering cording through awkward spaces and openings... besides being a great needle puller. I am going to order a couple extra so I can keep one on my chatelaine and another attached  with a scissor holder to my sewing bag..